


here to help you kill all this hurt that you've been harboring

by brahe



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Actual Parents Anakin and Obi-Wan, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Ahsoka Tano, BAMF Anakin Skywalker, Crew as Family, Cuddling & Snuggling, Descriptions of the Force, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Conversations, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Family, Feelings, Force Bond (Star Wars), Hurt Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kissing, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Obi-Wan/Sadness, Pet Names, Platonic Cuddling, Powerful Anakin Skywalker, Powerful Obi-Wan Kenobi, Protective Anakin Skywalker, Soul Bond, That's Not How The Force Works, Tragic backstory™, Zygerria, Zygerria Arc, Zygerria au, actually talking about feelings, episode coda, episode rewrite, obi-wan and ahsoka have a training bond, some banter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:02:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21672658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brahe/pseuds/brahe
Summary: "Kenobi," Miraj says, looking out over the city. "Your partner, is he not?""Yes," Anakin agrees, hesitant, as emotionless as he can sound. Miraj hums."And yet you still call him master, do you not?" she asks, turning to face Anakin.Anakin crosses his arms. "That's none of your business."Miraj ignores him. "You –lectureme on freedom, and yet you yourself are still a slave.""You truly know nothing of the Jedi," Anakin quips, face flat. He can feel his anger rise, the same anger he's carried since he could walk, the anger Obi-Wan could never train him out of and never truly tried to.Miraj's face becomes calculating. "But you are no longer a learner, are you?" she asks, though she's halfway to smug when she says it. She tuts. "I suppose someone like you could never truly escape amaster, anyway."Or,Zygerria, where Anakin and Obi-Wan are Force-bonded, and everyone actually talks about their feelings
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CC-2224 | Cody & Anakin Skywalker, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 41
Kudos: 698





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i didn't mean to write this much abt zygerria but here we are
> 
> big thanks to [hals](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotwheels_kin/pseuds/hotwheels_kin) for being the best cheerleader & to [icee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inconocible/pseuds/inconocible) for their endless support & writing help ily both sm
> 
> i changed a few things from the episode:  
> cody goes to the facility with obi-wan instead of rex  
> the whole ordeal lasts about a week instead of a few days
> 
> this also takes place in a series i'm developing; the major points are:  
> obi-wan is nearly as powerful as anakin, and qui-gon hid his strength to protect him  
> obi-wan was 16 when he took anakin as a padawan  
> and obi-wan and anakin have a force/soul bond that was created during the mortis arc
> 
> this fic is complete, and the next 3 chapters will be posted over the next week

Something sits uneasy in the Force around them, and it keeps Obi-Wan on edge. The fight had been too easy, over too quickly – and he's wondering still about Ahsoka's words on the missing colonists when Cody comes up to him, then, holo puck in hand.

"Sir," he calls, stopping in front of him. He holds out the holo. "From the separatist commander. He's barricaded himself in the tower. It's for you."

The holo flickers to life between them.

"Master Kenobi," the man says. "Come to the tower so we –" 

The message cuts off as the puck flies from Cody's hand, crushed in the air in front of Anakin. Deep, intense hatred floods the Force, and Obi-Wan chokes on it, the unexpected, overwhelming rush of red-hot fury, and he reaches out, catching Anakin's fist as it falls. 

"Anakin," he says, low and with equal parts softness and reprimand. He reaches for their bond, tugging on Anakin’s signature, pulling him out of his head, calling to him. Anakin turns to Obi-Wan, uncurling his fist, but his anger has barely abated. 

"You know what they are," Anakin says, venom thick and vicious in his voice. "Let me handle that _slaver._ " 

Obi-Wan sighs, and, mindful of their surroundings, though he trusts their troops, wraps his hand around Anakin's upper arm. "I don't think that's wise," he says, despite Anakin's glare at him. He pulls Anakin away from the holo, as away from the clones as they can get, here, and runs his hand along Anakin’s arm.

“Let me do it,” Anakin urges. “Let me go after him, Obi-Wan, I have to – I have to.” He’s practically vibrating with energy, and there’s something desperate seeping through the cracks in the anger, leaving Obi-Wan torn.

“Think about the situation, Anakin,” Obi-Wan tells him. “This is clearly a trap.”

Anakin frowns. “It’s not like this would be the first time we knowingly walk into a trap,” Anakin reminds him. “Thinking about – thinking about him, sitting up in there, so smug, thinking he’s won –” The Force between them, around them is shaking, coiling, bent entirely to Anakin without him even realizing. He grabs for Obi-Wan, curling his hand into his sleeve, a white-knuckle grip that would’ve torn the fabric were it his metal hand.

“Listen to me, dear one,” Obi-Wan says, as gentle and smooth as he can, _dear one_ slipping from his lips as it’s wont to do. He watches as Anakin focuses on him, hazy blue sharpening, and the shaking eases. “We’re going to work together. I know you’re angry, and you’re ready to act, but we need to think things through.” Anakin looks skeptical. Obi-Wan reaches for him, letting his palm rest against Anakin’s cheek, before sliding it down to the side of his neck. It’s uncharacteristic enough that Anakin finds himself shocked still, his own grip on Obi-Wan’s arm loosening as he searches Obi-Wan’s face, their bond. Obi-Wan’s signature is as calm and soothing as it always is, except –

“Trust me when I say we will ensure they get what they deserve,” Obi-Wan tells him, and his voice is hard, his eyes steel, and Anakin suddenly realizes the unfamiliar feeling in his signature is rage, cold and strong. It’s gone, tucked away just as soon as it was revealed, and Obi-Wan brings his hand down, sliding down Anakin’s shoulder to his wrist and then letting go.

“Sorry,” Anakin says. “It just makes me –”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Obi-Wan corrects. “I’m furious, too, dear one, though I’m sure not near as much as you. Just let _me_ do what I’m good at. You’ll have your chance.”

Anakin’s nodding before Obi-Wan is finished. “Okay,” he agrees, and he squeezes Obi-Wan’s arm before letting go. “Okay. Just…be careful, yeah?”

Anakin watches as Obi-Wan transforms into the Negotiator, his posture shifting and his eyes darkening. He grins, and it’s the sharp, dangerous one Anakin always tries and fails not to find much, much more attractive than it should be.

“Of course, dear,” Obi-Wan assures, the Negotiator gone as quickly as he came, and he laughs softly at the mix of relief, regret, and attraction through their bond. “Get in touch with Yularen,” he says, as they head back to rejoin Ahsoka in the center of the buzz. “Coordinate a bio-sweep of the planet, they’ve got to be here somewhere.”

  
–—–  
  


Ahsoka watches Anakin stalk over to Rex, and she raises her eyebrow when Obi-Wan comes to stand next to her. 

“What’s wrong with Skyguy?” she asks, and Obi-Wan frowns. He feels…sad, Ahsoka realizes, and she furrows her brows. “Wait, what’s wrong with you? What did you just talk about?” 

Master Kenobi looks like he’s considering not answering her, but then his hand lands gently on her shoulder, and he guides her away from the center, tucking the two of them over by the ship. Anakin's anger still a tangible thing through the Force to the both of them, not as suffocating as it was before he and Obi-Wan spoke, but still as burning. Ahsoka looks from Anakin, stiff as he speaks to Yularen, back to Obi-Wan. 

"Master, what's going on? Why is he so angry?" Ahsoka's voice is quiet, but concerned, and through the training bond they're not supposed to have, Obi-Wan can feel touches of light fear under her confusion. He soothes her signature with a gentle, reassuring sweep. 

"What has Anakin told you of his life before the Jedi?" he asks her, and she takes a moment to consider it, tilting her head to the side. 

"Not much," she admits. "Mostly he tells me not to ask about it." 

Obi-Wan shakes his head. "Typical Anakin," he says, mostly to himself, then sighs. He levels Ahsoka with a heavy look, and – and she's a smart girl, she's started putting the pieces together, although she doesn't like the picture it's making. 

"It's really not my place," Obi-Wan starts, "but I do think it's fair to you that you know.” He pauses, considering how to say it, and decides straight-out is the best option. “Anakin and his mother were enslaved on his home planet, and were in such a state when we found them." 

Ahsoka frowns, looking across the way at Anakin, who's rigid, face stormy, his signature dark and hot. She feels uneasy, a mix of her own anger, rich and hot, swirling with Anakin's, combined with the sour taste of rising trepidation for this mission as it begins to unfurl. Her eyes are still on Anakin when she speaks. "When I first officially became his padawan, he told me I didn't have to call him master. He said…he said 'If something ever makes you uncomfortable, tell me.’" She pauses and looks to Obi-Wan, who's watching her with an expression she can't read. "I wasn't sure what he meant, then. But I get it now."

Obi-Wan nods. “That was a rough adjustment for him,” he admits. “But it helped that he knew it was a choice of will, on your part.”

Ahsoka tries to think about what that would’ve felt like, on the other side of a word that haunted his childhood, and for a brief moment she wishes they had dropped it entirely. But –

“Wait,” she says, and Obi-Wan hums. “What about you?” she asks. “He _still_ calls you master, even though he’s a knight now.”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan agrees, “he does. I had wondered about it, myself. When I took him on as my padawan, I offered him something similar to what he offered you, and he never called me master until three years into his training.”

Ahsoka looked surprised. “The Council let you do that?”

“Ah – no,” Obi-Wan says, with a soft chuckle. “No, they were not very fond of my…nontraditional methods. But I didn’t care, so long as Anakin was happy.”

Even though Ahsoka finds herself still rewriting her assumptions on Master Kenobi, this comes as less of a shock. His care for Anakin is, as she’s learned, a pillar of his character. Perhaps _the_ pillar.

“What about now?” Ahsoka asks, and maybe she’s prying too much, but Obi-Wan is hardly ever so forthcoming.

“Now, he tells me it’s a habit,” Obi-Wan tells her. “He tried to tell me it was a sign of respect, but…” Ahsoka snorts, and Obi-Wan smiles. “Precisely.”

The two of them look across at Anakin, again, who’s talking to Rex, now. “Do you believe that?” Ahsoka asks. Obi-Wan shakes his head.

“Not really,” he admits. “But he’ll tell me the truth when he’s ready to.”

–—–

Obi-Wan meets them on the deck of the capitol building, and – and, the thing is, Anakin's seen Obi-Wan in a hundred states of disarray and dishevelment, despite how tightly Obi-Wan clings to his dignity and decorum. It never gets easier, though, seeing him injured, and, now, feeling him injured.

The way Obi-Wan walks to them immediately concerns Anakin. He's known Obi-Wan well long enough to see through his facades, and he's definitely hiding a limp. And probably bruised ribs. He frowns. 

Anakin searches for their bond, which – which he usually doesn't have to search for at all, and his frown deepens.

"All bombs disengaged, general," Rex tells him, and Obi-Wan offers them a smile, though it's wan on the edges.

"Took you long enough," he says, but he's looking at Anakin. Anakin itches to reach for him, to hold him, heal him, but Obi-Wan is still so stingy about what he allows.

Obi-Wan gestures to the ship they hijacked. "New ride?" he asks, quirking his eyebrow.

"They've taken everyone off planet already," Ahsoka tells him, and she's full of righteous fury. "There's a slave auction on Zygerria tomorrow."

"Ah," Obi-Wan says. Anakin's gaze is still heavy on him, distracting. "Well, we'd better get going, then. Rex, have the troops dispose of what they can. We've got planning to do."

"Yes, sir," Rex salutes, and he's gone, leaving Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan with the stolen ship.

"I want to free the animals before we go," Ahsoka says, and she's bouncing her gaze between Anakin and Obi-Wan. The air between them is thick and tense, and she waits only for Anakin's nod and soft _'course, Snips_ before she makes herself scarce, busy with the creatures.

Obi-Wan watches her walk away if only to avoid Anakin's eyes.

"So what are you hiding from me this time?" Anakin asks, and the directness of it, the bitterness, startles Obi-Wan into looking at him.

"I don't –" he starts, and Anakin waves his hand.

"Save it. I don't know why you still even try to hide your injuries. In case you've forgotten, we're _sharing a soul_."

"Yes, well…" Obi-Wan has nothing to say for himself, except that he did what was necessary, and he doesn't want Anakin to worry. Just another day in the life.

But, of course, that's never been good enough for Anakin.

"Despite the way you're trying to keep me out, I can still feel you. Your pain." The anger suddenly leaves Anakin's voice and signature, leaving something weary behind. "Why do you still do this?" 

"I don't know," Obi-Wan shrugs, and remembers his conversation with Ahsoka from before. "Habit."

Anakin looks at him, equal parts frustrated and – upset, Obi-Wan realizes. "That's not fair," he says, quiet. He shakes his head, clearing away whatever sudden emotion struck him. "Just – just stop it and get on the ship, will you?" 

Obi-Wan blinks at him. "I…" he starts, stops, unsure. This Anakin is more testy than usual, and while Obi-Wan can't begrudge him given the nature of their mission, he's still surprised by Anakin's tone and his feelings, so thick across their bond.

–—–

It isn't until they're back with the 501st, heading for Zygerria, that he gets Obi-Wan into the medbay. He complains the whole way, but Anakin's steadfast and unwavering in his conviction, leaving Obi-Wan no choice but to go.

At least it's only Anakin – full service medical check-ins are long and tedious and usually mean required days off-duty, something they can barely afford on good days, and certainly can't now.

Anakin hasn't spoken to him since the rooftop, with the exception of short, clipped statements directing him this way and that. Obi-Wan's fatigue is catching up with him, anyhow, and he's focused on keeping the pain, and Anakin, at bay, so he lets the silence sit. 

Anakin glares at him until he sits on the edge of a biobed. He crosses his arms. "Will you tell me what happened?" 

Obi-Wan shrugs, which pulls at his chest in a way that makes him wince. He can practically feel Anakin's expression darken. 

"I'm fine," Obi-Wan tells him.

"That's bullshit and we both know it," Anakin says. "If you're fine, why are you hiding from me?"

Obi-Wan sighs. "It's nothing unusual," Obi-Wan says. "Just some hand to hand combat."

He can feel Anakin's disbelief, but he uncrosses his arms and approaches the bed. Obi-Wan reaches for him when he stops just beyond his knees, catching his fingers in Anakin's robes and tugging gently until Anakin's standing between his legs.

"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan tells him, sliding his hands to Anakin's hips. He lets his head fall forward onto Anakin's diaphragm. "I just – it really is habit at some level, you know," he says. "This is all still very new. I forget I'm not supposed to be hiding anymore."

He feels Anakin sigh, and then his hands are on the back of Obi-Wan's head, softly carding his fingers through the strands.

"I know," he says, looking down at the top of Obi-Wan's head, his heart squeezing. He pushes his flesh hand through Obi-Wan's hair to tilt his head back, meeting Obi-Wan's eyes. "Let me help. Let me see."

Obi-Wan's hands clench at Anakin's waist, but he drops the shields he's been struggling to maintain. He's never truly separated from Anakin's signature, now, but being completely open to him feels like napping in the middle of the afternoon with the sound of rain outside, like Obi-Wan's favorite tea and a soft blanket and time to spend reading a holo. He sighs as his muscles relax all at once, their signatures braiding together as they like to do.

"I don't like it when you hide things from me," Anakin tells him. His fingers rub gently at Obi-Wan's scalp, and Obi-Wan can feel the way Anakin's searching for the hurt through the Force, massaging out what he can, easing the aches. Obi-Wan's always still a little surprised at how good Anakin is at this, this not-quite-healing practice he does, how patient he is with it.

"I know," Obi-Wan says. "I don't like it, either."

He hums when Anakin urges the last of the true pain into the Force, then blinks up at Anakin, who's looking at him. 

Anakin's hand finds its way to Obi-Wan's face, his fingers barely there as he traces the edges of the faded bruise on his cheekbone.

"Thank you, darling," Obi-Wan says, and Anakin nods, still focused on the bruise. Obi-Wan reaches up to catch Anakin's hand, his fingers curled sideways around Anakin's own as he brings it to his lips to press a kiss to his palm. Anakin watches him, eyes heavy, his signature cloudy.

"Sometimes I really hate your rules," Anakin tells him, non sequitur, and then he's tilting Obi-Wan's head back, bending down to meet him in a kiss. Obi-Wan clings to Anakin's waist with one hand, the other moving up to hold the side of Anakin's face. There's something desperate at the edges of their bond, and it bleeds into the kiss, deepens it.

"Stop hiding from me," Anakin murmurs in the space between them. "I don't like when you pull your signature away. Feels cold."

Obi-Wan shifts his hand from Anakin's cheek to his hair, tucking into the curls. "I don't want to distract you, or worry you," Obi-Wan tells him, and Anakin shakes his head.

"It's worse when you're hidden."

Obi-Wan regards him, his loose curls and worried eyes, lips soft pink, and he can't help but think of him as beautiful. The feeling seeps through their bond, and Anakin frowns.

"Don't try to distract me," he says. "I'm trying to be serious."

Obi-Wan chuckles softly as he stands. There's not much room for him between Anakin and the edge of the bed, but it's hardly an issue. He rests a hand over Anakin's heart.

"I'm not," he promises. "It's just a feeling." He holds the side of Anakin's head as he tilts him down for another quick kiss. "I hate them, too," he whispers, before another, final kiss. "But we have work to do."

Anakin looks torn, and Obi-Wan can't blame him. It's so easy to get lost in the bubble they create when they're together, but the mission is pressing on both their minds; Obi-Wan can feel the weight of it seeping from Anakin, vicious, swirling anger he tries to soothe as quickly as it appears.

Decision made, Anakin's face hardens, and he lets go of Obi-Wan. "I have an idea for an undercover op," he says. "But I have a feeling you're not going to like it."

Obi-Wan understands now what Anakin meant by feeling cold, suddenly without his touch or the warmth his love creates in the Force. He draws his mouth into a line.

"I have a feeling you're going to be right."

–—–

They're in a small conference room off the bridge of their ship, a table running the length of the room. Obi-Wan and Anakin are side-by-side on one end, in a heated debate since Anakin proposed his idea.

"How else are we going to get four people into the auction?" Anakin asks, arms crossed. Obi-Wan huffs.

"All we need to do is figure out where they're keeping the slaves. There's no need to involve the Queen in this if we don't have to. It's dangerous enough as it is," Obi-Wan says, tone hard.

"What are you going to do, then, mind-trick the first Zygerrian we see on the street?" Anakin's halfway to glowering, and he uncrosses his arms to wave his hand around as he speaks. "The best, and the _only,_ way is to talk to the Queen herself. Only she and the highest palace aids are going to know."

Anakin watches Obi-Wan turn away from the table for a moment, only to turn back, face dark.

“I just don’t think that’s wise!” he says, surprising Anakin with his intensity. He rarely hears Obi-Wan raise his voice at all – if he didn’t know better, he’d even call his tone emotional. 

Anakin shakes his head. “They’ve already seen you. You’d be found out in an instant.” 

“Anakin, this is what I _do_ ,” Obi-Wan tells him. “Let me.” 

“Look, no one here understands these people better than me. I know what she is, I know how to trick her. I know the things she wants to hear, exactly what to do and what to say.” 

Obi-Wan sighs. “That’s exactly why I don’t want you going,” he admits, sitting down. He suddenly looks weary, more injured and exhausted than he let on before. Anakin frowns. “You shouldn’t even be on this mission, let alone this involved.” 

Anakin scoffs. He doesn’t want pity. “Why, because it’s too close to home? Because you all think I’m too unstable, that it’s going to bring up memories? It’s too late for that one, at least.” 

“No, Anakin,” Obi-Wan says, sharp, as close as he gets to anger. “It’s because I care about you and I don’t want to put you through this!”

His blunt honesty takes the wind out of Anakin, and he sits down beside Obi-Wan.

"I'm not –" Anakin starts, and pauses to rethink. "I'm not gonna break," he tells Obi-Wan. "You know it has to be me." 

Obi-Wan's sigh is a heavy one, makes his shoulders sag. He puts an elbow on the table top and rests his head in his hand. He looks at Anakin, at the lines of his face and the few curls that keep falling into his eyes, and he looks beyond into his signature, wrapped so tightly with Obi-Wan's own.

"I know," he says, barely louder than a whisper, and Anakin's chest squeezes at the way it sounds. It _is_ emotion coloring the tone, Anakin realizes; he can feel Obi-Wan's concern and trepidation almost as if it were his own. "I know."

Anakin reaches across the small space between them and takes Obi-Wan's free hand into his own, sliding his fingers between Obi-Wan's. 

"It'll be okay," Anakin tells him. Obi-Wan looks at him.

"I hope you're right."

–—–

Anakin finds Ahsoka in the empty mess, finishing making a cup of tea. 

“Snips," Anakin starts, coming into the room. "You can say no –" Anakin pauses, hesitant, but Ahsoka already knows something like what he’ll ask, and she nods. 

“I’ll do it,” she says, and he blinks at her. She takes her tea to the table and sits.

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask!” he says. Ahsoka looks at him. 

“Yeah, I do,” she says. “You need someone undercover as a slave.” 

“You don’t have to agree,” Anakin tells her. “We can go with a different plan. We _should_ go with a different plan.” 

“We can’t,” Ahsoka says, and she’s right, but Anakin hates it. “You know we can’t.”

Anakin sighs, heavy, and drops onto the bench next to Ahsoka. “Yeah,” he agrees, quiet. “Doesn’t mean I like it.” He thinks back to his discussion with Obi-Wan; on the other side of it now, Obi-Wan's reaction makes more sense. 

They’re quiet for a moment. Ahsoka taps her fingers against her mug. “Do you know why they took them?” she asks. Anakin shakes his head.

“No, Snips, I –”

“No,” Ahsoka interrupts. “I know why. But do you?”

Anakin frowns at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Togrutas are prized commodities in the pleasure slave trade,” Ahsoka tells him, and Anakin’s head falls back against the back of the booth seat with a dull thump. He closes his eyes, a soft _no_ escaping his lips. “Twi’leks, too. There was a special course I took as a youngling about it. About self-defense and how to escape, and other things.”

Horror curls around Anakin’s heart. He sits up, turning towards Ahsoka, and takes her hand in his. He can’t help but notice how small it is, how young she still is. “Say no,” he urges, a murmur, and she shakes her head.

“I can’t,” she tells him, and her voice is quiet and tight with emotion. “If it’ll help save them, I – I can’t.”

Anakin sighs, wet and heavy. He pulls Ahsoka to him, her face tucked into his chest. He cups the back of her head, his other arm around her back. “Kriff, I’m so sorry,” he says. She shakes her head against him.

“Not your fault,” she mutters. “Just – just make sure nothing happens to me. Okay?” Her signature is heavy beside him, and he curls his own around hers while pulling her into a tighter hug. She wraps her arms around his waist and squeezes, clinging to him. Anakin wants to cry.

“Of course,” he breathes, and he looks up at the ceiling, blinking fast. “Force, of course I will. No one could take you away from me,” Anakin tells her. “No one. Nothing. You’re stuck with me, Snips, because I’m never letting you go.”

Ahsoka laughs softly, and Anakin can tell she’s crying. “Promise?” she asks, and Anakin’s own tears surprise him, hot on his cheeks.

“Yeah, ‘soka. I promise.”

–—–

Obi-Wan stands beside Anakin's chair as he takes them into Zygerria, arm across the back. Ahsoka is changing into a more – fitting outfit, and Cody had gone to sort through their armor, though Obi-Wan suspects he just left to give them a moment alone.

His apprehension swirls with Anakin's anger, which peaks sharply when they come out of hyperspace, and it makes him feel vaguely nauseous. 

He lets his hand drop from the seat back to Anakin's far shoulder and squeezes gently. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Anakin looks up at him for a moment. "Yeah," he agrees, and he lists sideways enough for his head to land on Obi-Wan's stomach. Obi-Wan brings his hand from Anakin's shoulder up to the side of his head, holding Anakin to him.

"I love you," he says softly, running his fingers through Anakin's hair. Anakin simultaneously wants to cry and smile – this is only the fourth or fifth time Obi-Wan has told him such, but the way he says it now is full of a strange kind of sadness and a finality that tightens Anakin's heart.

"Love you, too," he says, pressing his head into Obi-Wan's stomach for a moment. "Don't say it like that."

"I didn't mean to," Obi-Wan tells him, his fingers still gentle in Anakin's hair. "I'm just…" He trails off, and Anakin sighs.

"Yeah," Anakin agrees.

He lands the ship smoothly, standing up beside Obi-Wan. He reaches for Obi-Wan's shoulder, then changes his mind, wrapping an arm around his waist instead. It's not like they have anyone to hide from here – he suspects Ahsoka already knows, and there's few either of them trust more than Cody.

Obi-Wan meets him in a kiss, a short, desperate press of lips, Obi-Wan's hands wrapped tightly the front of Anakin's robes. Anakin pulls him closer, and he tries to ignore the feelings swirling around him, a warning shouting at him through the Force. He kisses Obi-Wan harder, instead, holding on until Obi-Wan lets him go.

Obi-Wan smooths down the creases he created in Anakin's robes, letting his hand linger over Anakin's heart.

"Can you feel it?" Anakin asks, and it takes a moment, but Obi-Wan nods. He's still looking at where his hand rests on Anakin's heart, his face drawn.

"Something's coming," Obi-Wan agrees. "Be careful, dear one."

Anakin squeezes his waist. "You, too," Anakin says. "Come back to me."

"Always," Obi-Wan promises.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i made up a word in zygerrian, loosely meaning "property" as a term to refer to the slaves

Anakin wakes with a gasp, jerking upward only to be yanked back down. Confused, he tugs his arms and finds himself attached to a bed frame in a room he's never seen. He looks around for the thing that woke him, but he's alone, there's no one –

_ Obi-Wan.  _

He's gone.

Anakin panics, eyes snapping shut as he reaches for Obi-Wan, calls for him as loudly as he can, won't let himself believe he's gone, really gone.

The tension leaves him in a breath.  _ Not dead _ . Obi-Wan has closed himself off, shut down their bond more completely than he ever has before, and it  _ hurts,  _ the initial, sharp pain that woke Anakin quickly dulled into an ache in his chest that makes it hard to breathe.

He hears a door open, then, feels a sour presence come closer.

"Oh, good," Queen Miraj says. "You're awake."

Anakin opens his eyes to glare at her. "What have you done with Obi-Wan?" 

She laughs, a light, short sound. "Your partner? He's been taken to our behavioral facility." She hums, an amused sound. "Breaking down his infamous resolve will be  _ so  _ satisfying."

Anakin has broken the chain from the bed before he even realizes, standing between the Queen and the doorway.

"If you harm him…" Anakin threatens, voice low and dark. He curls his fingers by his side and watches the Queen suddenly gasp for air. 

He holds her throat until Ahsoka reaches for him, calming, curious to his anger. He lets Miraj go, watching as she coughs, sending reassurance to Ahsoka.

The Queen glares at him, rubbing at her neck. "Try that again, and I will make sure you can't," she says. "There are ways to control even your kind."

Anakin could laugh at her threat. He's never felt more powerful than he does in this moment, the Force swirling around his fists, eager to yield to him. He knows, with a kind of bone-deep certainty, that not even an inhibitor would be enough to stop him now. 

"I don't think you know who you're dealing with," he tells her, and she shakes her head.

"Oh, I've heard plenty of stories about the exploits of Kenobi and Skywalker," she says, waving her hand. "It's hard not to, the way the galaxy seems to follow your every step." She turns to him. "Do not assume I don't know how to limit a Jedi's powers."

It's a simple thought to have the remainder of the binds falling from his wrists onto the floor, the metal clanging loudly against the tile.

"Not this Jedi," he promises. Miraj scoffs.

"Don't threaten me, boy," she snaps. "Your tricks do not scare me."

Anakin raises a hand, and Miraj raises with it, her feet kicking out in surprise. He pushes the large glass doors open with a wave, and walks Miraj outside, pulling her along until she dangles over the edge of the balcony, her city below.

"If I wanted you dead," Anakin tells her, slow, dangerous, "you'd already be dead."

He brings her back above the balcony and drops her gracelessly. She lands on her side, rolls to her knees as she breathes heavily. 

Anakin regards her coldly as she stands, smoothing down her gowns. She looks to Anakin. 

"Do  _ anything _ like that again,  _ tula _ , and both your sorcerer friends die," she promises, accent much thicker with her anger, "starting with your child." 

–—–

A week has gone by when one of the Queen's right hands announces Dooku is coming.

It figures, Anakin thinks, whether or not she was working with the Separatists before a week ago, but the way Miraj bristles at the news has Anakin thinking.

Miraj dismisses her guard with a wave, and Anakin smirks. "Even you have a master," he says, smug, and she whirls on him.

"Dooku has no control over me," she tells him. "I am a slave to no one."

Anakin scoffs. "Tell yourself whatever you want, but fear is rolling off you in waves. He must keep you on a tight leash."

"He does no such thing!" Miraj says, raising her hand as if to hit Anakin, only to change her mind. "He's simply coming to hear about the Jedi I've captured. The opportunity to rid the Republic of you and your partner is invaluable."

"Oh, I'm sure it is. He's been trying to kill us for months. Years, maybe."

Miraj frowns, realizing her threat has fallen flat. 

"Too bad for the both of you, Obi-Wan and I are more powerful than we've ever been," Anakin says. Miraj chuckles, a mirthless, mean sound.

"You would defeat a sith lord? By yourself?" She regards Anakin. "You're a child, and Kenobi is hardly much older." 

"Obi-Wan Kenobi is the only living Jedi who's destroyed a Sith lord. I'm beginning to doubt you've done your research." He can feel the Queen's growing irritation, and he allows himself a smug smile.

"With the week he's had, he'll be lucky to have the strength to stand on his own," Miraj tells him, that same dead humor back in her tone.

Anakin's blood runs cold at the thought. He's exhausted himself in all his down time trying to reconnect to Obi-Wan with no success; he knows he's alive, but beyond that all he gets are wisps of anger, of sadness, of pain.

He keeps his face smooth, though, cold, keeps his fear tightly to his chest. "Yet again you underestimate him," Anakin says. "A fatal mistake, I assure you."

Miraj has stopped her pacing, leaning against the railing over her city. It'd be so easy to end her life, Anakin thinks, the Force crackling between his fingers; but only she knows where Obi-Wan is, so he stays his anger, yet again.

"Kenobi," Miraj says, some time later. "Your partner, is he not?" 

Anakin furrows his brows. Miraj knows this already – although she doesn't know it's to the full extents of the word. He's hesitant in responding.

"Yes," Anakin agrees, as emotionless as he can sound. Miraj hums.

"And yet you still call him master, do you not?" she asks, turning to face Anakin.

Anakin crosses his arms. "That's none of your business."

Miraj ignores him. "You –  _ lecture  _ me on freedom, and yet you yourself are still a slave."

"You truly know nothing of the Jedi," Anakin quips, face flat. He can feel his anger rise, the same anger he's carried since he could walk, the anger Obi-Wan could never train him out of and never truly tried to.

Miraj's face becomes calculating. "But you are no longer a learner, are you?" she asks, though she's halfway to smug when she says it. She tuts. "I suppose someone like you could never truly escape a  _ master,  _ anyway."

Anakin flexes his hand until Miraj's throat constricts, but he lets her go much faster than he'd like for fear for Ahsoka.

"Keep testing me," he threatens. "Don't forget that you're only alive because I allow it."

Miraj glares at him. "Don't forget your place,  _ tula _ ," she spits, a hand rubbing at her neck. Anakin reigns in his power, bitter expression plain on his face as he pulls the Force back to his hands. The Force inhibitor Miraj had tried on him at the end of the second day went laughably bad, as Anakin had figured it would, his power well past the point of external control; she quickly resorted to threats on Ahsoka and Obi-Wan that Anakin fears too much to test. And so they've existed in tense parallel, but now – Anakin suspects Dooku might be his key to escape. 

–—–

"Took you long enough," Ahsoka says, opening her eyes from her meditation. She could feel Anakin coming, his anger seeping and swirling through the Force like blood in water, and, underneath that, a steady, thrumming fear.

"Sorry, Snips," he quips, but it lacks his usual wit. "I've been a little tied up."

She feels her cage shift as Anakin's power curls around it, lifting her off the ledge and onto the rooftop. He rips the side off with the Force as soon as she's settled, and offers her a hand as she climbs out.

"You okay?" 

Ahsoka takes stock of herself. They hardly touched her, only left her out in the sun and the dark without food, water only once a day. She's hungry, and thirsty, and her knees ache, but she's unharmed.

"Yeah," she says. "I'm okay."

Anakin pulls her into a hug anyway, hand at the back of her head, holding her to him. "I'm sorry," he tells her, soft. She shakes her head and wraps her arms around his waist.

"Not your fault," she says. "'sides, I'm okay. Really. I could use some water, or maybe a good run, but I'm alright." She looks up at Anakin, resting her chin against his diaphragm. "You kept your promise, Skyguy."

Anakin rubs this thumb against her neck. "We're not out of this, yet, kiddo," he tells her. "They took Obi-Wan and Cody somewhere. I don't – Obi-Wan cut himself off from me, I can't –" 

Ahsoka reaches to Anakin through their bond, does her best to soothe the jagged edges of his signature. He's bleeding emotion, fear and anger and deep, lost sadness that make Ahsoka's head spin if she lingers too long.

"We'll find him," she promises. "He's just protecting you."

Anakin drops his chin to the top of Ahsoka's head, his eyes closing. "It hurts," he admits, voice quiet. "He's – gone. How am I supposed to find him?"

Ahsoka has never felt lost like she feels now. She doesn't know how to help Anakin, can only stand here and hug him and try her best to quell his fears.

"We'll find him," Ahsoka repeats. She has only a vague idea what their bond feels like, catches echoes of it through the training bonds she shares with each of them; but now, she can feel Anakin's aching, underneath the whirlwind of his emotions – a calling, a shout into darkness, unanswered every time.

She finds Anakin's hand when he lets her go, and sends a prayer to the Force that they find Obi-Wan before Anakin shakes apart. 


	3. Chapter 3

Ahsoka glances back when she hears the pit door slide open, and then does a double take when she sees who Anakin's brought on board.

"No way," she says, shaking her head as she turns back to the controls. "What the kriff are you doing?" She half yells at him from where she's getting them away from the palace, glancing back at him again.

"Look, it's not like I want to, but she knows where Obi-Wan is," he tells his padawan, who starts muttering to herself in response. He focuses on the Queen, who he's laid on one of the long benches behind the pilot seats. Anakin can feel her presence fading in and out, and he jolts her to get her attention.

"Where's Obi-Wan?" he asks, and when she only groans in protest, he shakes her shoulders harder, and repeats, louder, more desperately, "Where is Obi-Wan?"

"K…Kadavo," she tells him, weak voiced, and Anakin lets go of her immediately. He's not sure what they'll do with her once they've rescued the others – if she's still alive, that is – but there's not a cell in his body that cares for her.

"D'you get that, Snips?" Anakin calls, standing. "They're on Kadavo." 

He takes the seat next to Ahsoka as they prepare for hyperspeed, watching her put in the calculations. "Wait a second," he says, and she looks over to him, eyebrow raised.

"What do you mean _wait_?"

Anakin's already turning the chair to the right, starting up the comm channels. "We're going to need some backup."

"Backup! Master, we don't have _time_ –" 

"Think about it, Ahsoka. Yes, we're good, and yes, we're angry, but I don't think it's a good idea to storm a whole base without backup." 

"Now you're starting to sound like Master Kenobi," she tells him. "Who are you even going to call? Master Windu is probably the closest, and that's probably not the wisest choice.

"You're right," Anakin says, but doesn't tell her what she's right about. "And that's not who I'm calling. Just – take us into orbit and hold on."

Here's the thing: Anakin knows there's only a few people they could call, for a number of reasons. The simple fact that it's _them_ presents its own problem, plus their bond, which is still relatively new and they're still trying to keep under wraps. _And_ , on top of all that, Anakin worries for the state they'll find Obi-Wan in. He knows – he _knows_ what this kind of life is, but even where he came from is likely luxury compared to the torment Obi-Wan must be facing. He overheard part of the Queen speaking with Dooku, her accent curling around words promising power over the Jedi, and he fears what that means.

So there's really only one he could call. 

"I'm not sure why it's me you asked to aid you," Plo says, after he's readily agreed to help. He's preparing for his hyperjump to Kadavo, which will take a couple hours.

Anakin sighs. "I'm worried about Obi-Wan, how he'll be when we arrive," Anakin admits. "If it's bad – he wouldn't trust just anyone, and neither do I."

"I'm honored to hold your trust," Plo tells him, and Anakin can hear his sincerity through the comm. "We'll be there as quickly as we can."

"Thank you," Anakin repeats. "Skywalker out."

He sits back in his chair, turning it back to face the viewport. Ahsoka's watching him.

"Plo's nowhere near here," she says. "And isn't he on a diplomatic mission? Peace treaties or something?" 

Anakin rubs at his forehead. "It's not that he's _nowhere_ near here. He's just not…close. And yes, he was."

He stops there, and Ahsoka figures that's all the explaining he's going to do. "Well," she says, "should I take us to Kadavo?"

"Yeah," Anakin says, letting his hand fall back into his lap. "Yeah, but keep the hyperdrive low. I don't want to come in suspiciously."

Ahsoka adjusts the settings, but doesn't punch it yet. She's still watching Anakin, searching his feelings through their training bond.

"Master," she starts, then stops. She's got Anakin's attention, now, though, and she starts again, much quieter. "Will Obi-Wan be okay?"

Anakin shakes his head. "I wish I could tell you yes, Snips," Anakin says. "It's hard to feel him. He's closed me out – though I suppose I understand why." He pauses, and he lets his head fall back against the seat, and Ahsoka feels his full fear for the first time, bleeding into their bond, his control on it slipping. On purpose or not, Ahsoka isn't sure, but she suspects the latter. "All I know is he's still alive," Anakin says, and he sits back up again, looking across to Ahsoka. "We'll just have to hope that's enough." 

–—–

"So much for not coming in suspiciously," Ahsoka says, as they watch their stolen ship blow to pieces. They tuck themselves against the door, out of the firing range of the aerial cannons, and Anakin starts to fiddle with the door locks.

"Stand down, or the slaves die," a voice says over the door console. Anakin scoffs.

"Not a chance," he says, and he doesn't know if the slaver can hear him or not, but he doesn't care. 

A little screen cackles to life above the door panel, and – and it's Obi-Wan, looking up into the camera. He still looks like shit even through the low quality of the lens, and Anakin's gut rolls.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan says, his voice strained and thin, but even still, Anakin could cry.

"Obi-Wan," he says, an unconscious whisper of relief, and, without him aware of it, his signature reaches out for Obi-Wan's with renewed strength, searching for its other half. He pauses his work with the locks.

"Anakin, he's being serious. He'll kill them all if you don't stand down."

Anakin frowns. Obi-Wan sounds – afraid, Anakin realizes, and the fire of his anger is back, burning like the twin suns of home.

"I'm done bargaining with slave drivers," Anakin tells him, and he hopes the sound of his lightsaber humming to life can he heard over the intercom.

"Listen to me, Anakin," Obi-Wan says, and Anakin hates how desperate he sounds. "He'll kill them. You can't take them alone."

Anakin makes sure he's looking at the lens of the camera when he smirks. "Who says we're alone?" 

Obi-Wan looks suddenly off-camera before the feed shuts off. Hopefully that means Plo's arrived. He turns back to the door, lightsaber still in hand. 

"Master, what are you doing?" Ahsoka asks him, hushed but urgent. Anakin looks at her as he plunges the blade of his saber through the metal of the door. It slides through like paper as he carves a hole.

"I'm doing it the old fashioned way," he tells her, and kicks out the center of the hole, watching it land on the floor with a satisfying bang.

Anakin makes quick work of the few guards that charge them at the door, and Ahsoka follows as he chooses a hallway and starts running.

"How do you know we're going the right way?" she asks him.

"I can feel it," Anakin says, then realizes what that means. "I can feel him." It's still weak, but, for the first time in days, their bond feels less like a phantom limb, flaring up as Anakin had stepped into the facility. He looks down the hall. "He's not far." 

Ahsoka looks at Anakin, considering. She can feel the pure power he has, with or without their training bond; he's exuding it, the Force swirling around him like wind in a hurricane. She has no worries for him – only for the people he'll come across.

She makes her decision. "I want to – I'm going to help my people," she tells him. Extending her mind through the Force, she can sense them not too far down the next hallway.

"Stay safe," Anakin tells her, hand on her shoulder. "I'll meet you back at the ship."

"You, too," she says, and then they part ways, footsteps nearly silent as they run off.

–—–

Ahsoka's hallway ends in a door. She debates cutting it open, as Anakin had done, but changes her mind and tries the keypad instead. 

She has one of her lightsabers in her hand as the door slides open, but she doesn't need it. Inside, the walls are alive with electricity, and the floor is sliding slowly away.

One of the Togrutas spots her, and a murmur rises from the platform. "A Jedi," they say, hushed tones, but none call for help.

Ahsoka considers the situation. She doubts she could disable the electricity from the door panel, which leaves her with rescue. She could have one of Master Plo's ships fly in, but – she has an idea.

Aiding herself with the Force, she jumps across the gap and lands gracefully at the edge of the floor. "I'm here to free you," she tells them. "You have to trust me." 

She watches them look around at one another, before one up front nods her head. "Please help us, Jedi."

"Good," Ahsoka says, and adjusts her stance to a more solid position. Just in case, she chooses the smallest among them, a girl no older than Ahsoka herself. They make eye contact, the girl's eyes wide and afraid.

"Trust me," Ahsoka tells her. "You'll be okay."

Ahsoka holds her hands out, and in the next moment the girl is floating above the ground. There's a roll of shouts from the group, but Ahsoka continues to work, focusing carefully as she pushes the girl across the gap, letting her go once she's on the other side.

The girl, who had been shouting the entire time, quiets, and so does the crowd. She looks shocked. Ahsoka smiles.

"Who's next?" 

–—–

The facility is huge, Anakin notices, with a sinking feeling. He had thought Obi-Wan was close, but now he suspects it was just the strength of his pull in the Force.

Anakin is sheathing his saber when his comm crackles to life. "Skywalker, come in, it's Plo."

"Master Plo," Anakin immediately replies, and tries not to sound too excited. "Skywalker here."

"There's too many aerial cannons for us to do much good," Plo tells him. He can hear vague sounds of the dogfight that must be happening outside in the background. "Can you take them out?"

Before Anakin can respond, another channel opens.

"Master Plo, Tano here," Ahsoka says. "I can do it."

"Ahsoka!"

"Everyone's safe, Master, don't worry," Ahsoka tells him. She sounds proud. "Master Plo, I'll have a pickup for one of your transport cruisers once those cannons are down."

"Copy that, commander," Plo says. "Standing by."

"Be careful, Snips," Anakin tells her.

"I'm fine," Ahsoka says. "Have you found Master Kenobi yet?" 

Anakin sighs, and takes off down the hallway again. "Not yet," he says, "but I'm close."

"Good luck," Ahsoka tells him. "Tano out." 

–—–

Cody throws the last of the guards to the ground, unconscious. He's angry, and he's tired, and it's so satisfying to watch the slavers crumble to the floor.

He snatches the guard's taser staff and searches for Obi-Wan, finding him in the corner on the far side of the room, standing over Agruss.

The door on his left suddenly slides open, and he glances over – but it's General Skywalker in the doorway, glowering with righteous fury, and Cody turns back to Obi-Wan, relieved.

—

Anakin runs, runs until he reaches a doorway, bursting through as the Force yells to him. Inside, he finds Cody wrestling with a slaver, and two dead or unconscious on the floor. _Obi-Wan, where is_ – he spots Obi-Wan across the room, standing over a Zygerrian in a hoverchair.

"A Jedi wouldn't kill an unarmed man," the Zygerrian says with a nervous kind of laugh, and Anakin's blood boils. His hands curl into fists at his sides, the Force crackling around him, but before he can do anything, he hears Cody call, "Good thing I'm no Jedi." 

—

"A Jedi wouldn't kill an unarmed man," Agruss says to Obi-Wan, half-questioning, and, at this, Cody's anger approaches a fever pitch.

He's had to watch his general take hits from every side for the last four days, helpless to do anything to save him.

He knows, with a kind of grim certainty, that Agruss is at least partially right. If it were anyone else, he'd already be dead, but it's Obi-Wan, and Cody likes to think he knows his general well.

But Cody's sick, sick of these people and this place, sick of seeing Obi-Wan in such a state, sick of their twisted punishments, and he refuses to let this monster torture his general any longer. He shifts the taser staff in his hand.

"Good thing I'm no Jedi," he calls.

Cody throws the staff across the room, strengthened by his anger at the slavers, at his inability to protect Obi-Wan since they arrived here, and watches with vicious satisfaction the staff pierce through Agruss and out onto the other side of his chair, effectively saving Obi-Wan from making the choice.

—

Obi-Wan looks, wide-eyed but mostly unseeing, at the body in front of him, before turning to Cody, and, in that moment, Cody thinks he’s never seen him look so shaken. He’s suddenly glad for Anakin’s appearance, because –

Obi-Wan spots Anakin; Anakin can tell by the rush he feels across their bond, Obi-Wan's shielding walls crumbling down in half a moment, nearly crippling relief paired with bone-aching sadness flooding through. 

"Anakin," Obi-Wan says, but it comes out more like a whisper. Anakin has a sudden feeling, and he's across the room in time to catch Obi-Wan as he crumbles, knees giving out beneath him. He wraps his arms under Obi-Wan's arms, taking his weight easily.

– Because _this_ , Cody thinks, watching Anakin, catch Obi-Wan in his arms when his body gives out.

"Obi-Wan," Anakin says, and hazy blue eyes look up at him.

"So you are real," Obi-Wan says, to Anakin's vague horror.

"Yeah, sweetheart, I'm real," he tells Obi-Wan. With the way they're standing, Obi-Wan is leaning against Anakin's shoulder, resting nearly all of his weight on Anakin's left side.

Anakin reaches up, holds the back of Obi-Wan's head to his shoulder, and presses his lips to his temple, squeezing his eyes shut. It's a long, lingering, relief-fueled thing; Anakin breathes slow, focuses on the feeling of Obi-Wan against him, in his arms. 

Cody looks away when Anakin's eyes close, the complete, unadulterated relief in Anakin's expression tightening his heart. But he can't leave them alone, has to watch their backs, has to protect his general now that he _can_ , so he busies himself with picking up another taser staff and stands guard at the door.

Obi-Wan's robes are torn, and he's covered in dirt and soot and bruises and what looks like dried blood, but he's alive, and okay enough to loosely cling to Anakin's arms.

"Take me home, please," Obi-Wan murmurs, and Anakin feels it just before he passes out, adjusting to catch Obi-Wan's full weight against his chest. He adjusts again, picking Obi-Wan up, one arm under his legs and the other around his back, resting Obi-Wan's head at the junction of his shoulder and neck. He weighs nearly nothing in Anakin's arms, aided by the Force without even realizing he had called upon it. 

"Yeah," Anakin says, though he knows Obi-Wan can't hear him. "Yeah, let's go home."

Cody only turns back when Anakin calls his name.

"Yes, sir?" 

Anakin glances around the room quickly, as Cody regards him. He looks lost, Cody thinks, or shaken. Maybe both.

His gaze comes back to Cody, his expression smoothing. "Lead us out."

–—–

Cody walks alongside Anakin through the hallway, the silence between them and in the facility both refreshing and oppressing. He finds his gaze keeps drifting to the right, to his general's head resting against General Skywalker's shoulder; he's asleep or unconscious, Cody isn't sure, but either way he looks restless, his forehead creased.

His gaze drifts to Anakin, and – the thing is, Cody hasn't ever really been _afraid_ of General Skywalker, not really. But now, after he's seen him painted in fury, his face grave and dark and the air around him tense and dangerous even to a non-sensitive, he understands the fear Anakin inspires in their enemies, and he finds himself glad Obi-Wan has Anakin so steadily by his side.

Anakin can feel Cody watching him, and he looks over and meets his gaze. 

"Thank you," he says, quiet, and Cody shakes his head. He debates asking permission to speak freely, but – desperate times and all that. 

"He's gonna be in rough shape," he tells Anakin. "I did what I could to – to protect him, to help his injuries, but there was only so much." 

Anakin nods, solemn. "Thank you," he repeats, and then, much softer, he adds, "I don't think he would've made it without you." 

Cody doesn't know what to say to that, and he hates the feeling that Anakin's words are right. "No," Cody says, slow with the realization. "I think – you might be right." Obi-Wan had relied so heavily on him, and he hadn't really noticed how heavily until now. 

He thinks of their third night, after they were ushered to their bunks and then left alone. Obi-Wan had climbed into Cody's bunk instead of his own, an outline in the dark until Cody's eyes adjusted to the lack of light.

"Sir?" Cody had asked, hardly even a whisper. Obi-Wan's face was thrown in shadow, but he looked – distraught.

"I just –" he started, then broke off into silence. To Cody's absolute shock and no shortage of horror, he watched his general break down, body crumbling as he shook with silent sobs. Cody, panicking, had reached for him, and he held Obi-Wan to his side as he cried for all the people he couldn't save, all the people tormented because of him. 

Anakin's looking at him curiously, and Cody wonders if Jedi can read minds. His generals have always been exceptionally powerful, after all. 

"Is there anything I need to know?" Anakin asks. He looks down at Obi-Wan in his arms, and Cody feels like he's intruding on something, something unknown and private. Much softer, Anakin asks, "Anything he won't tell me?" 

Cody considers this. "Malnutrition and dehydration, definitely. For all of us probably, but especially him. He'd give away his rations to the others, and I only convinced him to share mine yesterday. Most of his injuries are from lacerations, from whippings, but – but they usually left him physically alone, unless he was trying to protect the others." 

He pauses. "He's going to need a psych eval," Cody tells him, "and probably therapy." 

Anakin sighs. "Yeah," he says, "I figured." He sounds sad, knowing in a way that makes Cody wonder about him. If he thinks hard enough about it, pieces from the past week and a half start to come together, and he hates the answer they give him. He considers holding his tongue but – 

"This isn't the first time you've…dealt with this, is it," Cody says, a statement phrased like a question. Anakin's silent for a minute, and Cody begins to worry he overstepped, but then Anakin's posture shifts, hunching around Obi-Wan just a little, like a shield. 

"No," Anakin tells him, and he looks at Cody with haunted eyes. "No, it's not."

–—–

Plo's transport ship is waiting for them outside the facility, Ahsoka and her rescues already aboard. As Anakin steps onto the gangplank, he feels something like relief at leaving that wretched place behind, glad to be away from the ghosts of terrible fear that echoed off the walls, to have Obi-Wan back safely in his arms. 

One of Plo's troopers – Boost, Anakin thinks – joins up with them. 

"The facility has been evacuated," Boost tells him. "Awaiting your orders."

Anakin looks at it through the closing gap at the end of the ship. "Destroy it," Anakin says, voice quiet, and Boost nods, relaying the command over their comms.

Plo's squadron sets on the facility, and Anakin watches through the closing gap above the gangplank as it erupts in explosions.

Boost takes them to the bridge, where Ahsoka is waiting for them.

"Master!" she calls, and Anakin would wrap her in a hug if Obi-Wan weren't in his arms.

"I'm glad you're alright, Snips," he says. She comes to a stop in front of him.

"I got everyone out – you're gonna love it," she tells him, and her gaze falls to Obi-Wan, who's still unconscious. She lowers her voice. "How is he?"

Anakin shrugs the best he can. "Alive," he tells her. "But beyond that…"

She nods, solemn. "The medbay's just down the hall," she says, as Plo comes up to meet them. He smells like fuel and the electricity of a fight, and Anakin can feel his satisfaction drifting lightly through the Force. 

"General Skywalker," he greets, and his eyes crinkle when he bows to Ahsoka. "Commander Tano."

"Thank you," Anakin says, and Plo waves his hand.

"It's my genuine pleasure," he tells Anakin. "Don't tell the Council, but I'm always happy to see one less slaver in the galaxy."

Anakin offers him a tired smile. "You and me, both," he says.

"The medbay has been notified and is waiting for you," Plo tells him. "Where do you want us to take you?" 

"The rest of our unit is on Kiros," Anakin says. "Ahsoka can give you the details."

Ahsoka looks at him, a half-glare, and as much as he knows she wants to be with Obi-Wan, he doesn't know enough about Obi-Wan's condition, and she's already been through enough.

Plo half-bows in farewell, and Sinker steps toward at Plo's call.

"Sinker will take you to the medbay," he says. Anakin inclines his head, and turns to follow Sinker off the bridge, Cody following behind like a silent sentinel. 

"I'm quite impressed with your rescue operation," Anakin hears Plo tell Ahsoka as he leaves the room, and he smiles softly to himself, their training bond flaring with quiet pride.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is ! the end !
> 
> keep an eye out for more from this series !

Ahsoka runs off the ship as soon as the door's lowered, runs right into Rex, who catches her easily. She wraps her arms tight around him, and he holds her waist steadily enough to keep her from falling.

"Commander?" he asks, quiet, surprise plain in his tone.

"I'm so happy to see you," Ahsoka tells him, voice muffled where her face is tucked into his neck.

Rex brings a hand to the back of Ahsoka's head. "Is everything okay?"

"It is now," Ahsoka says, still muffled. She makes no effort to move, and so Rex adjusts his hold on her, shifting so she's more secure. He watches General Koon come down the ramp, Boost at his side.

Rex offers the best one-handed salute he can.

"Good to see you, General," Rex says. "Thanks for bringing them back safe and sound."

General Koon gives him a light bow. "I leave them in your capable hands," he says. "Commander Cody is assisting Skywalker with Kenobi. My men and I will take care of the civilians."

"Thank you, sir," Rex says. Ahsoka shifts until Rex lets her go, and she turns to offer Plo a soft smile and a bow.

"Thank you," she says. Rex has always had a hard time reading General Koon's face, but right now he's certain it's affection creasing around his eyes. 

"Of course, little 'soka," he says, returning her bow, and turns with Boost to return to the ship. 

Ahsoka stays pressed to Rex's side until General Skywalker appears, General Kenobi in his arms and Cody beside him, face grim. If General Skywalker hadn't commed, Rex would fear General Kenobi had died; his breathing is so shallow Rex can hardly make it out, and General Skywalker looks tense enough to take on an army.

"Good to see you, General," Rex says, and Anakin gives him a tired smile. 

"Hey, Rex," Anakin says, coming to pause in front of his captain. "Where's Kix?" 

"Here, sir," Kix says, coming up to the group, pushing a stretcher in front of him. He helps Anakin lay Obi-Wan on the stretcher, and Rex watches Anakin as Kix heads to the medbay.

"General," Rex calls, and Anakin turns to him, wide-eyed, as if he'd forgotten where he was. Rex nods towards the ship. "Go with him," he says. "We can handle this." 

Ahsoka reaches for Anakin, wrapping a hand around his arm. "Go, Master," she says. Anakin looks at her for a moment, lingering, before he nods once and takes off after Kix.

–—–

Kix boots him out of the medbay kindly but firmly, and Anakin collapses against the hallway wall once the door closes behind him. He debates sliding down and sitting on the floor, but a voice clearing beside him shakes him out of his head, and he looks, wide-eyed, to his left.

"Rex," he greets, stepping away from the wall and trying to compose himself.

"General," Rex nods. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," Anakin says, shaking his head. "It's Obi-Wan who…he's…" 

The sob that escapes Anakin shocks both of them, Rex's eyes going wide at the sound. Anakin falls back against the wall, hand coming to his face, and he's crying, now, full body shakes though he doesn't know  _ why _ . 

Rex approaches him slowly, and gently places a hand on his shoulder. "Being hurt is more than just physical," Rex tells him. "You've been through a lot."

Anakin shakes his head. "I don't know why it's affecting me so much," he admits, wiping at the tears on his face. Rex sighs, sympathetic.

"You'll get no judgment from me," Rex says. Anakin looks at him, unreadable.

"I'm just –" he starts, cutting off when his voice drops out. He clears his throat, trying again. "He's alive, and he'll probably be okay, I don't know why it's  _ now  _ that I'm upset."

Rex hums. "Love is funny like that," he says. He's watched the two of them for long enough, has seen love in nearly all its forms between them, in the way Anakin waited for Obi-Wan, in the way Obi-Wan trusts Anakin completely, in the way they fight and worry and protect. 

"You know he's safe now," Rex says. "So you can let go."

Anakin chuckles weakly, and he looks at Rex with red-rimmed eyes. He looks – young, Rex realizes with a start. He knows his general is hardly twenty, and age for a clone is an unusual thing, but he knows that's young. Young for all the pressures of war, for all the weight on his shoulders.

"When did you learn so much about love?" Anakin asks him, and Rex shrugs. He's learned fellowship from his men, and trust from his general, and strength from his commander; he's learned patience and courage from Anakin and Obi-Wan, and he's learned family from the whole of them, and he's found joy in this little pocket they've managed to create for themselves.

"I'm a quick study," Rex tells him, instead, though he suspects Anakin sees through him. He raises an eyebrow. "Besides," he says, "neither of you are very subtle about it with us."

Anakin laughs, and Rex notices with relief that the wetness is gone from his voice, and his eyes are no longer shiny. "No," he says, "we aren't." 

He regards Rex for a moment, and Rex wonders what he finds. "We trust you," Anakin tells him. "We trust you with our lives, yeah, but also – we trust you with this. With us." 

And Rex knows enough about his generals, and he knows enough about the Jedi to know it's a deep trust, not lightly earned. He bows his head.

"That's what families are for," Rex says. He panics when Anakin looks like he's about to cry again, but his general just shakes his head.

"Yeah," he says, voice choked. "Yeah, they are."

Rex squeezes where he's still resting his hand on Anakin's shoulder. "I'll take care of the bridge," he tells him. Anakin reaches up to hold onto Rex's wrist for a moment, and he nods.

"Thank you," he says. Rex offers him a smile.

"Take care of yourself, general," Rex tells him. "I'll be here if you need me."

–—–

The door to Obi-Wan's room slides open, and Anakin doesn't need to look up to know it's Ahsoka, her signature so soothing and familiar.

"Hey, Snips," he says, voice quiet, glancing across Obi-Wan as Ahsoka drops into the seat on his other side.

"Hey," she says, watching him. "How's he doing?" 

Anakin sighs. He's been sitting here since Kix let him back in, watching and waiting and thinking and half a dozen other dangerous things; for what feels like hours, Obi-Wan has stayed the same, unconscious and far away. 

"He'll be okay," Anakin tells her, because it's true, now; he's alive and his injuries will heal and he'll  _ be okay. _ "He still doesn't feel…normal, but – he should wake up soon."

Ahsoka hums. She looks down at Master Kenobi on the bed, and – it's certainly not unusual to see him still and calm, but his rest now seems unnatural, something missing. She searches along their training bond, sending care and comfort across it, despite the vague nothingness on the other end. 

But it's Anakin she's truly worried for. Obi-Wan's words from before this whole mess started are still circling at the back of her mind, and she doesn't want to pry, but she knows her master well enough to know he won't seek the help he needs unless he's forced to.

"How are  _ you  _ doing?" she asks, looking back to Anakin. He blinks at her, and she takes in the way he looks weary, eyes dark, shoulders slumped.

"I…I'm not sure," he admits, surprising Ahsoka with his honesty. Ahsoka leans her elbows against the edge of Obi-Wan's bed.

"Master Kenobi told me, before this whole thing started…well, he didn't want to tell me, but I asked, and – he told me you were a slave," she says. "On Tatooine."

Anakin sits back in his chair, eyes on Obi-Wan. "Yeah," he says, slow, as if he's thinking carefully through his words, or wading slowing through old memories. "Yeah, I was. My mother was sold into slavery by the Hutts before I was born."

Ahsoka stays silent, watching him carefully. He reaches for Obi-Wan, running his fingers down Obi-Wan's arm until his palm, then pushing his fingers gently through Obi-Wan's own. 

"That's where Obi-Wan found me," Anakin says. "Well, Qui-Gon," he corrects. "I was working as a mechanic and a pod racer for Watto, a Toydarian. We were lucky, I think," Anakin says. "Watto kept us together, and let me tinker with the junk he collected. Others weren't – others weren't treated so nicely."

It explains so much about his character, Ahsoka thinks, about his decisions and his actions. She wishes she had known earlier, but – she understands, to the best she can, the reasons he keeps it close.

"Thank you for telling me," Ahsoka says, and finally Anakin looks to her, face cloudy and unreadable.

"I'm sorry it wasn't earlier," Anakin shrugs, and Ahsoka shakes her head.

"No," she tells him, "don't be. I get why you…wouldn't." Silence hangs between them, though it's neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. Ahsoka picks at the blanket on Obi-Wan's bed. "I probably wouldn't have called you master, if I knew," she admits.

"Yeah," Anakin agrees, after a moment. "I know." He sighs again. "But it's okay. I'm glad – I'm so glad I got you," Anakin tells her, and the love and pride swelling through their bond makes Ahsoka's eyes water. "You're a much better padawan than I deserve, and a much better Jedi than I could ever hope to be."

"Don't say that," Ahsoka says, voice thin. "Everything I am is because of what you've taught me."

Anakin's shakes his head, but holds out his arm. "Come 'ere," he murmurs, untangling his hand from Obi-Wan's, and Ahsoka's out of her chair and across the room in a blink. She curls up on Anakin's lap, his left arm around her back, and her head pillowed on his shoulder.

"I'm so proud of you," Anakin says, and Ahsoka's answering soft laugh is wet, thick with emotion.

"I love you," Ahsoka says, muffled in Anakin's neck, and he smiles, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I love you, too, Snips." 

–—–

Obi-Wan wakes slowly, blinking his eyes open to familiar white-durasteel walls and machinery beeping.

"Good morning, General," says a voice, and Obi-Wan tilts his head to see Kix standing a machine by his bedside.

He looks back at the ceiling, clears his throat before trying to speak. "Is it?" 

"0900, sir," Kix confirms. "You've been out for around two days."

Obi-Wan hums. He's sore – his body aches, but there's no sharp, pressing pain beyond the headache.

"I've had you hooked up to the basics," Kix tells him. "Nutrients, water. But you're still very much dehydrated."

"That would explain the headache," Obi-Wan mumbles. He closes his eyes again.

"I'll adjust the dosage," Kix tells him. "And I should probably tell General Skywalker you're awake," he says, mostly to himself, but before he can open his comm, the room's door slides open. Anakin's in the room in half a heartbeat, exuding a mixture of nerves and relief that makes Obi-Wan's head spin.

"Obi-Wan," he breathes, hesitating now that he's in the room. Kix clears his throat.

"I'll give you some space," he says. "Comm me if you need anything." 

Obi-Wan offers him a small smile as he leaves, then shifts his gaze back to Anakin, who has stilled just inside the doorway.

"Are you going to just keep standing there, or…?"

Anakin face shifts into a frown as he comes to the bed, slowly taking a seat on Obi-Wan's left. Obi-Wan watches him move.

"What's the matter?" 

Anakin looks at him, startled. "What's the matter with  _ me _ ? You're joking, right?"

Obi-Wan half-shrugs. "You're not acting like your usual self," Obi-Wan explains. "And you're…distant. Almost closed away."

"So much has happened this last week, I don't even know where to start," Anakin says, shaking his head. He fidgets with the edges of the blanket on Obi-Wan's bed. "You're the one that's far away," he adds, almost a whisper. Obi-Wan opens his mouth to respond, but takes a moment instead, turning his attention inward.

He finds Anakin's right; it  _ is  _ him, locking himself away, those same old walls up from his days as a padawan and a young master, from the days before their bond, before love and freedom and  _ Anakin _ chipped the shields into nothing. 

Obi-Wan reached for Anakin. "I'm sorry, dearest," he says. "I think – I hadn't realized I'd blocked you out."

He lets the shields come down slow, and Anakin sighs, relieved, when their signatures twine back together. Obi-Wan reaches for one of Anakin's hands, threading his fingers through Anakin's mech ones.

"You couldn't feel it?" Anakin asks, and now that he's calm, Obi-Wan realizes how tense he was before. He frowns.

"Feel what?" 

Anakin plays with Obi-Wan's fingers, pressing the pads of his mech fingers against Obi-Wan's. "When you closed me out, it was – it hurt, first like – like a stab wound, and then it ached constantly, like…like phantom limb."

Obi-Wan rubs his thumb against the side of Anakin's hand. "I suppose I didn't realize it, through – everything else," he admits. Anakin's face darkens.

"Everything else?" he asks, and Obi-Wan sighs. It's suddenly hard to keep his eyes open.

"I'll tell you later," he promises. "Just…"

"You should rest," Anakin agrees, no doubt feeling Obi-Wan's exhaustion. Obi-Wan relaxes back against the pillows and lets his eyes close, but when Anakin tries to take his hand back, Obi-Wan squints at him.

"Stay," he murmurs, so quiet Anakin almost doesn't hear it. "Please. I don't want to be alone."

As if Anakin could deny him anything. His heart clenches at the words, at the feelings bleeding through their bond, sadness much, much deeper than what he's used to from his other half. He squeezes Obi-Wan's hand.

"Of course," he says, soft for fear of breaking the bubble around them. "Force, of course I will. Anything," Anakin promises, then frowns. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke, I–" 

"Anakin."

"I wanted to be, but I –" 

"Anakin, darling," Obi-Wan calls, interrupting him again, and Anakin quiets, eyes big. Obi-Wan can't help but think he looks lost, adrift on a sea he can't tame. He makes a mental note to ask about what happened. "It's okay," he says, watching Anakin through heavy eyes. 

Obi-Wan's smile is merely a ghost of its usual, but Anakin feels the way he pulls their signatures closer, wrapping himself in Anakin's completely.

"Thank you," he whispers, on the edge of sleep. Anakin reaches up to push Obi-Wan's hair out of his face. "Love you."

Anakin's smile wobbles at the edges, and he can't understand why he feels like crying.

"Love you, too," he says, running his fingers gently through Obi-Wan's hair. "Go to sleep, sweetheart."

Obi-Wan tightens his grip on Anakin's hand, and it stays tight even after he falls asleep. 

–—–

Cody comes to see him in the morning, before shifts start. He hovers between the door and the bed, his hands held in front of him. He looks nervous in a way Obi-Wan has never seen, hesitant when he never has been before.

"Good morning, Cody," Obi-Wan says. Cody offers him a tight smile, makes his way slowly into the room.

"How are you feeling?" 

Obi-Wan lets out a breath. “All this considered,” Obi-Wan says, “I’m doing alright.”

Cody gives him a flat look, looking so much like something Anakin would do. The thought tightens Obi-Wan’s chest – they really all do spend so much time together.

“Really,” Obi-Wan says, holding up his hands. “The worst of it is probably my ribs. Other than that, I’m mostly just sore. What about you?”

Cody hums, still disbelieving, but he doesn’t argue. “Kix cleaned me up,” Cody tells him. “There wasn’t much some bacta and a good night’s sleep couldn’t fix.” 

He’s closer to the bed now, standing off to the side of it. Obi-Wan shifts.

“Good,” Obi-Wan says, and there’s a moment of vaguely uncomfortable silence before he continues. “I’m glad you came by. I wanted to – thank you, for everything you did. I don’t –” he pauses. With a surety settled deeper than his bones, he knows that if it weren’t for Cody, he wouldn’t have lasted in that facility. “If it weren’t for you, I –”

Cody shakes his head. He knows what Obi-Wan’s trying to say, hears echos of his conversation with Anakin in the back of his head. Somewhere along the line – earlier than he’d expect – Kenobi ceased to be a detail, a job, and became something deeper than that, a brother of a different kind. Cody crosses his hands over each other and regards Obi-Wan, who’s watching him carefully. 

“You don’t have to thank me, general,” he says. “You don’t ever have to thank family.”

There’s a look that crosses Kenobi’s face, softens his eyes and makes him look a little sad.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan says, and his voice is much quieter than before. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.” 

–—–

The next time Obi-Wan wakes, Ahsoka's by his side. She smiles at him when he opens his eyes.

"Hey, Master," she says.

"Hello, dear," Obi-Wan greets. Ahsoka's taken the seat on his right, and he feels her relief through their learner's bond. Obi-Wan smiles softly. "How are you doing?" 

Ahsoka shakes her head with a quiet laugh. "You don't know how to stop worrying for other people, do you?" she says, and Obi-Wan shrugs.

"A lifelong habit, I'm afraid," Obi-Wan tells her. The warm, gentle love he's sending curls around Ahsoka like a blanket, and she tries not to think about how worried Anakin had been.

"I'm alright," Ahsoka says. "Nothing really – happened to me. Not like Master, not like you," she explains. "I mostly just needed some food and water."

Obi-Wan hums. "How is Anakin?" he asks.

"Well," Ahsoka sighs, "it's hard to tell. He was with the Queen the whole time, but he won't tell me what happened, not really." Ahsoka looks up, then. "And he was worried about you. I mean, I was, too, but –  _ Force _ , Master, he was  _ afraid _ . I've never felt anything like that. It scared me," she admits. Anakin had been full of such raw emotion, overflowing at the edges and constantly sending waves of it accidentally through their bond. She had been terrified of both his strength and his anger, yes, but more terrified of the fact that her rock, her solid ground, was slowing shaking to pieces. 

Obi-Wan reaches for Ahsoka's hand. It's so small in his own. "I'm sorry to have worried either of you," he says, and it's so typically  _ Obi-Wan _ it makes Ahsoka want to shake him until he learns to care for himself.

Ahsoka squeezes his hand. "It's not about  _ us _ , Master," she says, shaking her head. She takes a heavy breath, and studies the way their hands fit together. "I heard a little about what happened," she says, voice quiet. "From the other Togrutas. Master, how…"

Obi-Wan shakes his head. "There is much you don't know about me, dear one," he tells her. "The Force has chosen me for sorrow, and loss, it seems, is to be my companion for life."

Ahsoka blinks at him, shocked, speechless. It's not that she hasn't felt sadness from him before; the basis of his signature  _ is  _ a deep sadness, after all; though now she wonders how deep it truly runs.

"Master," she says, choked. "What  _ happened _ ?" 

"There are cruel people in the galaxy, Ahsoka," he says. "Perhaps one day I'll tell you my story, but it's too heavy, I think, for now."

–—–

Ahsoka doesn't realize she's fallen asleep until Anakin's hand lands on her shoulder. 

"I didn't mean to scare you," he says softly when she startles and looks up at him. His forehead creases. "How long have you been here?" 

Ahsoka uncurls from the chair, and carefully lets go of Obi-Wan's hand.

"Dunno," she says, sleep-quiet. "Obi-Wan fell asleep, and then I must have." She rubs at her face and looks back up at Anakin. 

"How'd it go with the Council?"

Anakin's face darkens. "Fine," he tells her. "I told them as little as I could get away with. Plo and I have a report we're sticking to, and if Obi-Wan wants to add any more when he's awake, the Council can talk to him then."

The Council hadn't been too thrilled that their most successful team had disappeared for a week, and even less thrilled with Anakin's thin, weak excuses. Anakin finds some satisfaction, at least, in knowing they have to accept it. They much prefer dealing with Obi-Wan, but they'll have to take Anakin for the next week at minimum.

"Lying to the Council again, darling?" Obi-Wan asks, blinking tired eyes at them. He smiles softly at the pair; Anakin's half-sitting on the arm of Ahsoka's chair, and Ahsoka's got her head pillowed against the side of his stomach.

"Not lying," Anakin corrects. "Just…maybe not telling the whole truth," he concedes at Obi-Wan's raised eyebrow, and Ahsoka laughs quietly. "But," he adds, "Plo agrees with me, so you can't get mad." 

Obi-Wan chuckles. "Oh, well, of course, if Plo agrees," he says, causing Ahsoka to laugh again. Anakin shakes her shoulder, pulling her tighter to him. "Hey, you're supposed to be on my side, Snips," he grumbles, but his smile is poorly hidden, and his happiness is like a sun in the Force around them. Obi-Wan feels at peace for the first time in a long time. 

"You're a lovely sight to wake up to," he tells them, and Ahsoka smiles at him. Anakin's watching him, equal parts love with worry and concern, and Obi-Wan knows it'll be a long time until his fears fade away. 

"You're not so bad yourself," Anakin says, humor and affection in his tone. His signature surges with a mix of love and loneliness and relief, a combination Obi-Wan knows well from many nights of watching over Anakin in the medbay. 

"So," Obi-Wan starts, waiting for Anakin's eyes to meet his. He pulls against Anakin's signature, sending back his own desire for comfort, for their bed and Anakin's arms around him. "When can I get out of here?" 

Ahsoka grins suddenly, and Anakin sighs, dramatic. 

"Told you," she says, looking up at Anakin, who's gaze lingers on Obi-Wan. 

"You couldn't have waited another day to ask?" he asks Obi-Wan, but humor threads sparkles along their bond, and a grin is tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Guess you got me, Snips. One week of training of your choice, as promised."

Obi-Wan watches them with amusement. "I'm glad I could offer you some form of entertainment," he says, faux-affronted, and Ahsoka scoffs.

"Please," she says, "the two of you bet all the time." 

Anakin and Obi-Wan make eye contact over her head and both try to deny it simultaneously.

"I don't know if  _ all _ –" 

"Snips, I can't believe you would –" 

"Come _ on _ ," Ahsoka says. "I don't live under a rock, you know." She tilts her head in thought, and dread in equal parts seep through Anakin and Obi-Wan's bond. "I've also been wondering how long it would take for you to actually explain your bond to me," she tells them. Anakin coughs.

"...yeah," he says, watching Obi-Wan. "I suppose we probably should."

Obi-Wan pats the side of the bed for Ahsoka. "Come here, dear one," he says, and she shifts from the chair to the bed, leaning back against Obi-Wan's side. Anakin takes her vacated seat.

"There's much about our bond we're still learning ourselves," Obi-Wan starts. "You were with us on Mortis when it was created. Put simply, Anakin's Force signature and my own are connected almost as deeply as if they were one. We can, and usually do, have some level of separation, but it's very difficult to completely block the other out. It's like…a voice in your head. Sometimes it's louder than other times, but it's always there."

As Ahsoka listens, she settles more comfortably against Obi-Wan, and she plays with his fingers when he wraps an arm around her waist. She nods along, listening carefully.

"Does the Council know?" she asks, and Obi-Wan looks at Anakin over Ahsoka's head. Anakin clears his throat.

"Not – entirely," he tells her. "They know Obi-Wan and I never severed our training bond, but we haven't told them anything."

"Because it's attachment," Ahsoka says with a nod, and this time she catches when Anakin's gaze shifts upward, looking at Obi-Wan. They don't speak, but Ahsoka's learned that they don't have to.

"Something like that," Obi-Wan says. Ahsoka doesn't miss the frown Anakin gives Obi-Wan, and she wonders what else they're hiding. 

She yawns suddenly, and she can feel Obi-Wan's soft chuckle where she's resting against his side.

"It's late, dear one," Obi-Wan says, gentle. "Time to get some sleep."

Ahsoka rubs at her eyes. She's exhausted, now that she's thinking about it.

"What about you, Master?" she asks, turning into Obi-Wan more. She could sleep here easily, warm and safe with Obi-Wan's arm around her.

Obi-Wan hums. "What about me?" 

"You need to sleep," Anakin says. "You'll heal faster."

"I slept for two days," Obi-Wan tells him with a frown. "And off and on again for another day. I think I've had enough for now."

"I don't know if passed out counts as sleeping, but…" Anakin mumbles to himself.

"I could sleep much better in my quarters than I can here," Obi-Wan says. "When can I leave?" 

He sounds almost petulant, and if Ahsoka didn't know better, she'd say he's pouting.

Anakin sighs. "Fine," he says. "I'll talk to Kix. But  _ only  _ if you promise you'll get some rest."

"Of course there's a catch," Obi-Wan mutters, but agrees anyway at Anakin's expectant face. "Yes, I'll rest. Can you please ask Kix now?" 

"Yeah, yeah," Anakin agrees. His resistance is mostly show, anyway – he'd much rather have Obi-Wan sleeping by his side than here. "C'mon, Snips," he says, standing. "We'll leave Obi-Wan to his last medbay nap."

Ahsoka slides off the bed, fixing the blanket as she does. 

"I love you," she says, barely more than a whisper. "Just in case you haven't heard it often enough."

Obi-Wan reaches out for her hand, holding it a moment. "You're right, dear one," he says. "As usual. I love you, too."

Anakin watches them, chest tightening the way it always does when he watches Obi-Wan with Ahsoka, amazed every time that he gets to have this. 

Anakin steps to the side of the bed, unsure why until Obi-Wan reaches up for him, pulling him down to a slow, gentle kiss.

"I know," he says, a murmur between them, and Anakin presses forward for another kiss. 

"I'll be back in a bit," Anakin tells him. Obi-Wan squeezes where he's got his hand on Anakin's shoulder.

"Good," Obi-Wan says. "Get me out of here."

Anakin's quiet laugh is hardly more than a puff of air, and he leans down for one more kiss.

"Yes, Master." 

–—–

Obi-Wan sinks into the mattress with a relieved sigh, closing his eyes. No ship bed is near as comfortable as the Temple, but simply being out of the medbay is a comfort itself.

"Better?" Anakin asks, amused, voice coming from somewhere by the fresher.

"Much," Obi-Wan agrees. Kix hadn't taken much convincing; he had planned to release Obi-Wan tomorrow, so a night early wasn't a hard sell.

"Do you want to change?" Anakin asks him, and Obi-Wan opens his eyes and rolls his head to see Anakin standing a few steps from the bed. He's dressed down in soft pants and one of Qui-Gon's old sleep shirts he pilfered years ago, glove gone and hair fluffed from the sonic, looking every inch the comfort Obi-Wan's been craving.

Obi-Wan himself is still in a combination of medbay scrubs and his torn robes, so he sits and shifts his legs over the side of the bed, moving slow to avoid pulling the sore muscles in his back.

"Pajamas sound wonderful," Obi-Wan says, and works on standing, supporting himself with the wall.

"Careful," Anakin tells him, soft, turning to him with Obi-Wan's pajamas in hand. "Let me help."

Anakin has read the list of Obi-Wan's physical injuries, pulled muscles and deep lacerations, bruised ribs and a dislocated shoulder among a dozen other small injuries. It could've been worse, he knows, could've been so much worse that thinking about it nearly sends him into a spiral – but it isn't, Obi-Wan's here, he's standing and he's talking, and Anakin reminds himself to breath slower. 

He takes Obi-Wan's hand from the wall, pressing their palms together before he moves to rest it on his shoulder, placing the pajamas on the small table by the bed. Slowly, he works Obi-Wan's clothes off – first tearing the thin medical shirt away, then carefully unwrapping the tattered remnants of his robes, dropping the dirtied fabric to the floor as he goes. 

Bruises litter Obi-Wan's skin, an array of blue to yellow-green, disappearing under the wrap around his chest and reappearing after it. Kix had told him how to replace his back bandages, but he won't have to until tomorrow, the fresh set from this morning fine for the night.

Obi-Wan keeps his gaze on Anakin as he goes, something heady in the Force around them. The room is dim and warm, their signatures merged into one, and Obi-Wan lets himself forget about everything else, lets Anakin fill his senses. 

Anakin runs his hands up Obi-Wan's bare arms, palms warm – the heating system in his mech hand on low – leaving goosebumps as he goes, stopping when he's reached Obi-Wan's neck, his jaw cradled in Anakin's hands. Obi-Wan's looking up at him, eyelids heavy, his quiet yearning radiating thick through their twined signatures. Anakin sways forward, ducks down enough so his nose brushes Obi-Wan's, lips nearly touching, drunk on the delicate atmosphere of the room, on Obi-Wan's complete trust and attention, rich and addicting.

Obi-Wan shivers, then, a tremble through his spine, and Anakin lets him go slowly, sliding his hands from the underside of Obi-Wan's jaw down the front of his chest, absent-mindedly counting the bruises and scrapes as he goes. He puts only enough space between them as he needs – even if their signatures weren't so merged, he's loath to be further away from Obi-Wan than he absolutely has to be.

Anakin retrieves the shirt from the table, holds it out to Obi-Wan.

"This okay?" he asks, a murmur in the silence of the room, and Obi-Wan nods.

"Yeah," he agrees, brushing his knuckles down Anakin's arm. "Yeah."

It's one of Anakin's old shirts, a nearly threadbare thing; Obi-Wan steals it every few weeks, because it's soft, and it's just the right type of too big on him, and it's Anakin's. It's loose enough on Obi-Wan that he can get into it without moving his shoulder too much, and Anakin's hands are careful, gentle as he helps the fabric over Obi-Wan's head and up his arms.

Obi-Wan's surrounded – Anakin's shirt smells like him, like his soap and mech oil and the faint, electric smell of the Force; Anakin's signature has bleed completely into his own, so entwined Obi-Wan can no longer tell where he ends and Anakin begins, their sister feelings of devotion and reassurance echoing back and forth; Anakin's standing so close, barely a breath between them, looking down at Obi-Wan with his soft curls falling around his face, eyes dark as they skip around Obi-Wan's features, eyelashes leaving long shadows on his cheekbones. Anakin is all he can smell, see, feel, Obi-Wan's entire world narrowed down to this, to them, to  _ him _ . Obi-Wan feels  _ safety  _ so strongly it's dizzying – Anakin's power is a subtle thrumming, comforting like the sound of rain against the Temple roof.

Anakin settles the shirt against Obi-Wan's body, running his hands across fabric and skin, his nose brushing against Obi-Wan's forehead again and again. Obi-Wan's hands flex where they're holding at Anakin's hips, and he sways forward, gently bumping his forehead into Anakin's jaw. Anakin brings his hand to Obi-Wan's check, calluses familiarly rough against his skin, and he shifts to press a kiss to Obi-Wan's forehead, eyes squeezed shut. There's a flood of tight emotion through their signature, distress and love and the what-if concoction of  _ sadness-anguish-relief _ so intense it makes Obi-Wan's eyelashes damp.

Obi-Wan expected the redness of Anakin's eyes when he moves away, and his hand lingers a moment longer before Anakin slides to his knees, sleep pants on the floor beside him. He holds Obi-Wan's waist as he sits back against his heels, then lets his hands fall down the outsides of Obi-Wan's legs. Obi-Wan watches him, curls and eyelashes and a silhouette of his nose; his hands find Anakin's shoulders, fingers pressing into the blades, partially for balance and partially for grounding. 

Anakin goes one leg at a time, tapping lightly against the inside of Obi-Wan's left ankle and then his right, guiding the soft fabric over his feet. He rises slowly, carefully pulling the waistband as he goes, running his hands along the band once it's settled on Obi-Wan's hips.

His hands stay at Obi-Wan's back as he looks up, his gaze like gravity. He ducks his head, nosing along Obi-Wan's forehead again, deep breath against his temple, palms pushing Obi-Wan up to him when he finally drops for a kiss. It's as intense as Obi-Wan expected, deep and slow and searching, desperation seeping through the edges. There's a fine tremor running under Anakin's skin, and Obi-Wan shifts – slowly, careful with his shoulder – so he's holding Anakin's neck, pulling him further down.

Anakin's breathing heavy when he turns to nose at Obi-Wan's cheek, and Obi-Wan lightly scratches his fingers at the nape of Anakin's neck. "Obi-Wan," Anakin murmurs, "Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan," over and over and then they're kissing again, and Obi-Wan's chest aches with a phantom that isn't his, the leftover shakes of an intense adrenaline crash.

Anakin's hand drifts up Obi-Wan's back to the back of his head, burying his fingers into Obi-Wan's hair, and Obi-Wan isn't surprised by the dampness against his face, the tacky salt of Anakin's tears on his own cheeks.

Obi-Wan shifts his hands from Anakin's neck to his cheeks, wiping away his few tears with the pads of his thumbs. "Darling," he whispers, stroking at Anakin's cheeks, willing his shaking away. "Darling, shh."

Anakin falls forward until his head lands between Obi-Wan's shoulder and his neck, and his body's still faintly trembling under Obi-Wan's hands. Standing like this can't be comfortable, Anakin too tall for it – and Obi-Wan wants to hold him properly, wants to listen to his heartbeat and feel his breathing.

He tightens his hands at Anakin's waist, presses the side of his head against Anakin's. 

"Bed?" he asks, hardly enunciated at all, but Anakin nods, offers a soft  _ yeah  _ and hesitantly unfurls himself, barely letting go enough for them to climb into bed. Anakin settles against the pillows, Obi-Wan curling against him, and he wraps the blanket around them.

"I'm sorry," Anakin says, tracing the edge of Obi-Wan's chest wrap. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

Obi-Wan shakes his head. "Don't be," he says. "I'm fine. Really."

"Bruised ribs aren't my idea of fine," Anakin tells him. Obi-Wan feels his hand tighten into a fist against his back. "The whip marks will scar." 

"Yes," Obi-Wan agrees, "I suppose they will. But they'll hardly be my only scars." 

This war has left a battlefield of marks on both their bodies, reminders of failures and successes each. But Anakin has seen the cuts criss-crossing Obi-Wan's back and he knows from experience they'll take months to heal into the raised, silvery lines Anakin has a few of on his own body.

"You shouldn't have these," Anakin insists, voice quiet. "No one should." Anakin's hand finds its way to Obi-Wan's hair, and he runs his fingers gently through it. "What else did they do to you?" 

"They hardly touched me," Obi-Wan says, "to be honest. They would punish the others for my actions. Anyone I tried to protect, tried to help, only ended up with less food, more work, more beatings."

Anakin makes a sound, and his anger surges in the Force, so familiar in its heat, but it fades as quickly as it came. Their queen is dead, Anakin remembers, and their facility destroyed, and he lets that thought bring him what peace it can. 

"They hated me, in the end," Obi-Wan adds, much quieter than before, and Anakin suddenly feels a sorrow so deep it leaves him breathless and aching. "Everything I tried to do only made things worse."

Anakin understands, now, how Miraj had meant to control Obi-Wan, to break him; and he knows Obi-Wan is strong in his conviction, in his spirit – the strongest Anakin's ever met – but he fears for how close he suspects she came to succeeding.

"I'm sorry," Anakin repeats, unsure what else to say. He cards his fingers through Obi-Wan's hair again, then shifts so his hand rests against the back of his neck – a shield, perhaps, a hold full of the protection he couldn't give before. 

"What about you?" Obi-Wan asks, settling his palm against Anakin's heart. "Did they hurt you?" 

"No," Anakin says, and he fights the sudden, sharp urge for tears the question brings.  _ No,  _ he thinks,  _ they didn't hurt me. They were too busy hurting you.  _

"The Queen just kept me as her prize," Anakin says. "She tried a Force inhibitor, and when that didn't work, she threatened me with violence to you and Ahsoka." He quiets for a moment, thinking about the hours and hours wandering around the palace of a monster, trusted not to act out of line because of the hold over him. Not unlike Tatooine, if he lets himself think about it, so much time alone, but tied down by the exploitations of his care. 

"You shouldn't have been on this mission," Obi-Wan says, and Anakin shakes his head.

"None of us should've," he says. "I'm just – I'm just glad you're healing." He twists a piece of Obi-Wan's hair around his finger and watches it unwind when he lets it go. "I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner."

"I'll be alright," Obi-Wan tells him. "I always am."

Anakin tightens the arm he has wrapped around Obi-Wan's shoulders and blinks fast up at the ceiling. Not for the first time, he wishes he was strong enough to stop Obi-Wan's hurt, to take the sadness he's been carrying for half a lifetime off his heart.

"Yeah," he says, heavy. "I know."

Anakin feels it as Obi-Wan falls asleep, his breathing evening out and his signature cooling familiarly. Anakin knows rest for himself is much too far away, mind too full of memories and worries; so he gently strokes his fingers through Obi-Wan's hair and keeps his sleep calm and deep, and it makes Anakin's hauntings a little easier to cope with. 


End file.
